I wish a teacher would put my child in a box…
What began as a quiet concern in a small upstate New York community has escalated into national outrage after parents learned how some special needs students were allegedly treated at school.
Parents and advocates say staff members at St. Regis Mohawk School in Akwesasne are accused of placing children inside wooden, padded boxes as a form of behavior management. School staff reportedly described the boxes as a “calming tool,” but parents say what they witnessed told a very different story.
“I’m going to call them what they are: child-sized holes,” parent Chrissy Onientahse Jacobs said during an appearance on NewsNation’s Morning in America. Jacobs, a former member of the Salmon River School District board, said images of the boxes were sent to her by someone working inside the school. After seeing them, she felt the public needed to know.
Once the photos began circulating, the school’s board of directors shut down the campus and launched an internal investigation. The superintendent was placed on at-home duties, while several staff members were put on administrative leave. Officials have not yet confirmed how long the boxes were used or how many students may have been involved.
The allegations quickly reached state leadership. New York Governor Kathy Hochul publicly condemned the situation, calling the claims “alarming and entirely unacceptable,” and confirmed that state officials are closely monitoring the investigation.
The school primarily serves Native American students—a detail Jacobs says must be considered when examining how something like this was allowed to occur. She believes the situation highlights a broader failure to protect vulnerable communities.
“This is what happens when you dehumanize a population,” Jacobs said. “Eventually, people just become statistics on paper instead of human beings.”
